When Does The War Against ISIS In Syria Become An Invasion Of Syria?

David French, NRO: America’s War against ISIS Is Evolving into an Invasion of Syria

As ISIS crumbles, the chances for conflict with the Assad regime increase.

There was always going to be a reckoning. When President Obama began the American war against ISIS in 2014 — a belated and necessary step to stop ISIS’s blitzkrieg across Iraq — there was a lingering question: Then what? If and when we defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria, what comes next? Ideally, American allies would defeat the world’s most vicious terrorists, the warring parties in Syria would then have the space to reach a political settlement, and a genocidal civil war would finally end.

Yet when ideals meet the hatred and confusion of the Middle East, ideals always lose. So rather than staring peace in the face, we’re not only raising the risk of direct and sustained confrontation with Syria (and its chief ally, Russia), we’re inching toward an outright invasion and extended occupation of northern Syria. All without congressional approval. All without meaningful public debate.

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Update: The US Has No Long-Term Plan In Syria, And That’s Dangerous (Danny Leffler, Task & Purpose)

WNU Editor: I can understand the argument that the U.S. is in Syria to defeat the Islamic State. But with the Islamic State now on the verge of being defeated .... what will be the next step for the U.S. military in Syria and for U.S. policy? Remain in Syria to maintain order? Leave and hope that the forces that the U.S. has trained can stabilise the situation? Or a little of both? These are questions that need to be answered .... but absent congressional approval and without any meaningful public debate .... the U.S. may find itself in limbo .... stuck in another Middle Eastern quagmire .... and in Syria at that. When U.S. forces entered Syria last year everyone knew that this day was going to happen .... where the U.S. must define what they like to see in Syria. Well .... that day has arrived. The U.S. needs to have this debate. Define it's national security interests .... and then act on it. Because if not .... the U.S. would then just look like another invader .... with no legitimacy from even their own government.